Hey errbody!
So this week was really fast!
The beginning of the week I made the rounds and had some warm
embraces to some of my favorite peeps in Rouen. I love that ville so much. So
unique, but so much fun! Those members are so passionate and love church. I'm
really going to miss them. So now I'm in the one and only Nancy. What's even
wierder is I'm with Soeur Lefrandt. It's just so strange because sometimes I
feel like I'm back in Nogent and still really young, and then Soeur Lefrandt
blows me away with her French skills and amazing testimony. She has grown so
much on her mission. I remember she always had such a strong testimony and
great love for the people, but now I just feel like she is moving mountains and
it's crazy to see how a year can really shape and mold someone. She's awesome
and we are having such a blast! I love everything about life right now. This
ward is just adorable and we actually have a building! It's such a difference
from how I've served for the past 9 months of my mission. It's been little
branches and church in an office with cubicles and an old catholic nunnery, so
I'm really excited for a little change. Don't get me wrong, I love
Saint-Nazaire and Rouen, but this church building is so big! They've been
having a lot of construction though, so its not quite at it's finest, but once
their done with all the construction it will be really nice.
So Wednedsay was the big transfer day! I was so sad to leave
Rouen and Soeur Johns after spending so much time there and spending the last 3
months of my mission with Soeur Johns. She is such a close friend of mine and I
will never forget all our memories and good talks. Love that girl. I'm glad you
all had fun meeting each other! The pictures look so awesome I packed my
bags and headed off to Paris to meet my old-new companion, Soeur Lefrandt. It's
not very common for old companions to be put back together, so we were both
super shocked, but life is just so good right now. We have seen so many miracles
this week I don't know where to begin!
So after we came back to Nancy, we visited Judith and her
family. It's been a while since she's been at church so we taught her and her
cute daughter, Ines. Precious family! We shared the Family Proclamation and the
spirit was so strong as we testified of eternal families. What a precious gift
families are and the peace we find in knowing we can be together forever.
Thursday we saw a cute girl named Olivia that came to the
baptism that Soeur Lefrandt and her comp had before I got here. We taught her
right outside this gorgeous cathedral and shared our testimonies of Joseph
Smith and the restored gospel. After the lesson Soeur Lefrandt and I just
looked at each other because of how natural our lesson felt. We get tripped out
all the time when we realize we are companions again, it's so fun! But Olivia
is so sweet and we are hoping to see her this next week.
Later we went contacting on the way to a member's house. Then we
had a really nice dinner with them. These members are so nice too. French
people are so sweet. I love the family Mangeat! They were so funny. We had such
a big miracle on the way there. So we were both a little confused about where
we were going because Soeur Lefrandt had never been there. We finally got to
this random bus stop we were supposed to be. We had about 15 minutes so we
stopped this girl named Fernanda. She is from Equador (where Soeur Lefrandt's
twin sister is serving) and she was so sweet! We got her number and then taught
her the next day!
So Friday..we were headed home for dinner and on our route we
saw a big family..we had to sieze that opportunity and it was this cute African
family that were really believing. We prayed with them and the little girls
were so excited we got their number. Fingers crossed for them! :) Later we met
with Fernanda. What a miracle. Soeur Lefrandt and I were trying to find her,
but we couldn't figure out which metro stop she was at..finally we got a text
saying she was just gonna head home. She had just come out of a movie and we
really wanted to meet up with her after. So we bolted to the next metro stop
where we thought she would be. We got there and sure enough she was
there..laughing at how ridiculous we looked running around trying to find her
in skirts haha..not normal..but we took the metro and taught her about the Book
of Mormon..we then realized we were dumb and shoulda brought a Spanish one for
her. She told us she was leaving for a small trip for a few days the next
morning at 7 so we told her we do exercises in the morning and we could run to
the gare before her train and give her the Book of Mormon...which is excatly
what we did! MIRACLE! Fernanda is so sweet. She was a nurse in Equador and told
us how hard it was to see so many people die because the doctors and medicine
isn't the best over there. She told us how dark of a world it is to watch
people pass away while their families become so sad. She has such a big heart
and loves serving people. She told us we had such light in her eyes and she
wants that inner peace we had. We hope she is reading that Book of Mormon on
her trip!
Saturday the ward had a BBQ and it was fun to meet all the
members. They are so cooky here I love it! It was super fun and also
unforgettable...they had these fun games to play afterwords. So they thought it
would be really funny to make Soeur Lefrandt and I play this game where you
string a potato onto your waist and the potato hangs between your legs. There
were little cars on the ground and the goal of the game is to get your potato
to hit the car across the finishline. Overall, I was way too tall, I had a
skirt on, and I came in dead last 10 minutes after everyone else and the ward
was cheering me on for 10 minutes straight so how could I quit right? I guess
it was a good laugh, but pictures will NOT be included haha
Later we saw a family in the ward from Egypt. They are so nice.
Their son isn't a member so we are teaching him. He is really cool and has such
desire to know and learn. He has awesome questions!
Sunday was so fun! I'm not used to having more than 5 people in
Relief Society so being surrounded by 15 took me a second to get used to. These
members are so cute. So here's the biggest miracle of the week and my
favorite..Soeur Lefrandt and her previous companion were stopped by the gare a
week ago by this Armenian lady who is 70 years old and the cutest thing you've
ever seen. She told them she was a member in her broken Enlgish so she came to
church! I've never seen a bigger smile as she walked around showing everyone her
temple recommend because she couldn't communicate with us or them. She is just
the funniest woman ever! She was glowing all Sunday. So in our Sunday School
class the subject was the Word of Wisdom. We showed her pictures of fruits and
veggies and it clicked for her as she loudly proclaims in her broken english,
"NO COFFEE, NO ALCOHOL, NO TEA, NO DRUGS, NO TOBACCO!" She was so
happy and held my hand all through sacrament even though she couldn't
understand anything. She just had the biggest smile. She said her husband left
her and so she's been in France for a month but never found the church until
she saw the sisters walk by her. She has almost nothing yet is so sweet and
giving. She even gave me an orange because she wanted to say thank you. Love
her. We are hopefully seeing her this week as well.
Later we saw the newest member of the ward, Irenes. The Sisters
here were teaching her a lot and she got baptized last week. She's about 17
years old and was a little sad from some circumstances and we taught her about
gratitude. She was a lot happier after we left. She is such a funny girl and
has her head on straight. She is from Centre Afrique and showed us all these
pictures from when she lived in Africa before she moved to France. She is just
beautiful inside out.
Later we went porting..knocking on doors..for the rest of the
night and it was so fun. Soeur Lefrandt and I were let into this one lady's
house and she was a bit older and smoking a cigarette when we knocked. She just
told us to come right in and she took one look at our tag's and saw Jesus
Christ...then she looked at the cigarette in her hand and got a sad face and
said she would go put out her cigarette! HAHA! We hadn't even said anything to
her yet..it's cool to see how people just know things are wrong and when they
feel the spirit, they know what they need to do. We sang a song and prayed with
this adorable lady, Denise as she told us how hard her life has been since she
just lost her husband and her aunt. She was so grateful we came in. She had a
super nice apartment and is such a classy French lady. We're really pumped to
teach her more about the Plan of Salvation in the future. What a miracle!
Well this church is true, Nancy is awesome, and I couldn't be
happier doing the Lord's work here in France. These people are incredible. I
never cease to be amazed by the faith of the strangers I meet that then become
family. We are all God's children and that is the biggest reason for us to
hope. Soeur Lefrandt and I have been studying a lot of Christlike Attributes in
Preach My Gospel and I encourage you all to study the life of Christ a little
more in your lives. Take time to think about who He is and grow your personal
relationship with Him. I love you all! Have a WONDERFUL week!
GROS BISOUS
Soeur
Bergère
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